1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides an aerially deployed illumination system which may be tube or gun launched, or deployed on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which may be remotely operated and/or preprogrammed to illuminate a designated geographic area, structure, vehicle or personnel. In particular, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deployed or tube/gun launched illumination system is provided, wherein a relatively light weight, low power, concentrated light source disposed on the UAV or launched from a land based platform such as a mortar tube, artillery gun, rocket launcher or tube launch system, is operable to illuminate an area via rapid scanning of the area by an illumination control system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's), including balloon-based vehicles, gas and electric powered fixed-wing craft, and rotating blade equipped (helicopter) vehicles, have been conventionally deployed for various operations, including surveillance, combat operations and commercial applications. However, such UAV's generally have a fairly small payload capacity, due to their light weight and low fuel/power capability. Thus, the capabilities of UAV's are fairly limited due to limitations in payload and range, the range thereof being dramatically impacted by increases in payload.
With regards to UAV deployed means of illumination, currently, Peak Beam® is developing a UAV deployed means of illumination. In particular, Peak Beam® is developing a UAV-mounted xenon-light system capable of personnel immobilization. However, such lighting/illumination systems are heavy, and thus require a large UAV platform for deployment thereof. Further, it is believed that such a system is manually operated, and has a limited range and time on station. Moreover, it is not a battlefield lighting system, but rather a non-lethal weapon operable to create a dazzler effect like a laser dazzler to “flash blind” and subdue.
Conventionally, as disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0034424, lasers have been deployed upon UAV's as laser designators for targeting systems. However, such laser designators are incapable of illuminating a wide area for visible viewing of a target. Further, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,111,943, modulated light beam generating apparatuses have been developed for creating images using a modulated laser light and lens system. Such apparatuses, however, are sophisticated, heavy, and consume large amounts of power, thus making them unsuitable for deployment on light weight UAV platforms.
In another related application, illumination munitions have been and continue to be used to illuminate a battlefield or area of interest. The most common illumination rounds used by the U.S. military are 40 mm illumination grenades, 60 mm, 81 mm (such as the M816 IR mortar), 120 mm mortars, and 155 mm illumination artillery rounds. While they are a convenient source of high intensity lighting in various visible and invisible wavelengths, they have many drawbacks. Namely, the chemicals used therein (white phosphorous, cesium nitrate, etc.) are highly toxic and very dangerous, making handling and disposal difficult. Further, they offer limited illumination time because they burn while rapidly falling to earth from a low altitude; illumination durations of approximately 50 seconds to less than two minutes are typical.
In addition, the residual projectile components of traditional illumination rounds are a hazard due to their mass and can cause serious unintentional damage when they eventually fall to earth. Further, because the chemical light may still be burning when it strikes the ground, the burning chemical can initiate unintentional fires when landing on or near flammable material, which is a common occurrence. Another byproduct of a descending light source, such as the traditional M816 illumination mortar, is that the area of illumination produced thereby is non-uniform. Specifically, as the traditional round is a typical point light source with a Gaussian distribution, the area illuminated thereby diminishes rapidly as the round descends. Illuminated areas near the periphery are only visible for a short time as the illuminated area rapidly decreases in size.
In addition to the technical disadvantages of conventional illumination rounds, as discussed above, cost of the current rounds is a major factor when considering use thereof. Because they are not reusable, the above-described conventional illumination rounds is on a per-shot basis, and is typically from several hundred dollars to over one thousand dollars per-shot as of 2010. During a typical engagement, dozens to hundreds of illumination rounds may be employed, which is clearly very costly.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an aerially deployable illumination system capable of overcoming the disadvantages of the conventional illumination means described above. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an aerially deployed illumination system operable to illuminate a designated geographic area with a rapidly scanning, low power, collimated light source.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an aerially deployed illumination system mentioned above, wherein the collimated light source is operable to generate graphics, such as shapes, words and images, thereby providing communication functionality.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an aerially deployed illumination system with remote, automatic capability, wherein the aerial deployment system is a UAV which can be programmed or remotely commanded to illuminate a designated stationary or geographic area.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an aerially deployed illumination system with remote, automatic capability, wherein the aerial deployment system is a UAV, which can be programmed or remotely commanded to illuminate a designated mobile or stationary target (including geographic areas, vehicles, devices and personnel).
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide such an aerially deployed illumination system having a plurality of UAV's with the capabilities described above, which can be programmed or remotely commanded in real time to illuminate a designated mobile or stationary target, including have the ability to lock on, follow and continuously illuminate designated targets.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an aerially deployed illumination system having a plurality of UAV's with the capabilities described above, which can form an ad hoc network of UAV's, thereby enabling the network of UAV's to complete a designated mission.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a “tube” or gun launched illumination system operable to illuminate a designated geographic area with a rapidly scanning, low power, collimated light source disposed on a “tube” or gun launched UAV, with one or more of the capabilities of the UAV-based system mentioned above.
It is a final object of the present invention to provide a “tube” or gun launched illumination system operable to illuminate a designated geographic area with a rapidly scanning, low power, collimated light source disposed on/in a “tube” or gun launched carrier, such as a parachute-type application employing a parasail, wing or drag increasing device operable to slow the drop rate of the illumination system to increase the loiter time over target.